BENGALURU,May6: Students who on Sunday appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to medical courses said the paper was of moderate level.”The paper wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be; while the physics section was tough, biology was very easy ,” said Sahana R, who came from Hassan to take the national-levvel exam. Most other candidates shared similar thoughts. Three candidates who came five minutes late to a centre at Basavanagudi Janodaya School weren’t allowed to take the test.

2017 marks the first year of the test being conducted for medical and dental seats in both government and private colleges. In 2015, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) introduced a strict dress code to prevent cheating.This code includes wearing light clothes with half sleeves, low-heeled shoes with no socks and clothes with no big buttons or broaches.

“While I was standing at the check-point, many parents told me to remove my earrings and necklace as I wouldn’t be allowed to enter the hall with them,” said a candidate at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Yelahanka centre. “The code is unnecessarily stringent,” felt Namritha HR, another candidate.

Priya K, a parent who was waiting for her daughter outside the centre, said: “This is the first time that NEET is replacing all other medical entrance tests conducted by the state. We must weigh the pros and cons of this system before deciding if it’s indeed better than CET; we’ll know only once the results are out.”

“The biology section was easy and chemistry straightforward, but the physics section was tricky ,” said Anusha G, a candidate. However, Anusha thought CET was a better sys tem as NEET came with negative marking. Agreeing with her, mother Shubha said, “From students’ perspective, CET was better, as it was a state-level test. Since NEET is national-level exam, it’ll be more competitive.”

In Kar nataka, the test was conducted in Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Belagavi and Kalaburagi.